Gibbons live in subtropical and tropical forests from eastern Bangladesh to Northeast India to southern China and Indonesia (including the islands of Sumatra, Borneo and Java).

[8] One unique[citation needed] aspect of a gibbon's anatomy is the wrist, which functions something like a ball-and-socket joint, allowing for biaxial movement.

The vocal element, which can often be heard for distances up to 1 km (0.62 mi), consists of a duet between a mated pair, with their young sometimes joining in.

[28] In these cases, the limitation of food availability on group size may be relaxed, allowing more adults to congregate together without a significant increase in competition.

Nonetheless, their mode of transportation can lead to hazards when a branch breaks or a hand slips, and researchers estimate that the majority of gibbons suffer bone fractures one or more times during their lifetimes.

[33] The most folivorous gibbon species come from the genus Nomascus,[34] whose higher reliance on leaves is thought to be because they live in high altitude seasonal habitats that lack year-round abundant fruits.

With a genome that has a 96% similarity to humans, the gibbon has a role as a bridge between Old World monkeys, such as macaques, and the great apes.

Adding up, this implies that at least 52 major chromosomal rearrangements are needed to compare the common hominoid ancestor to today's gibbons.

No common specific sequence element in the independent rearrangements was found, while 46% of the gibbon-human synteny breakpoints occur in segmental duplication regions.

[36] The whole genome of the gibbons in Southeast Asia was first sequenced in 2014 by the German Primate Center, including Christian Roos, Markus Brameier, and Lutz Walter, along with other international researchers.

The team found that a jumping DNA element named LAVA transposon (also called gibbon-specific retrotransposon) is unique to the gibbon genome apart from humans and the great apes.

The LAVA transposon increases mutation rate, thus is supposed to have contributed to the rapid and greater change in gibbons in comparison to their close relatives, which is critical for evolutionary development.

A special feature of the LAVA transposon is that it positioned itself precisely between genes that are involved in chromosome segregation and distribution during cell division, which results in a premature termination state leading to an alteration in transcription.

[38] Researchers have found a coincidence between major environmental changes in Southeast Asia about 5 Mya that caused a cyclical dynamic of expansions and contractions of their forest habitat, an instance of radiation experienced by the gibbon genera.

This may have led to the development of a suite of physical characteristics, distinct from their great ape relatives, to adapt to their habitat of dense, canopy forest.

The unusually high number of structural changes in the DNA and chromosomal rearrangements could lead to problematic consequences in some species.

Thus, gibbons are organisms on which genetics research could be focused to broaden the implications to human diseases related to chromosomal changes, such as cancer, including chronic myeloid leukemia.

Early Chinese writers viewed the "noble" gibbons, gracefully moving high in the treetops, as the "gentlemen" (jūnzǐ, 君子) of the forest, in contrast to the greedy macaques, attracted by human food.